Charlotte Beers at Ogilvy and Mather

Charlotte Beers became Ogilvy & Mather's first outsider CEO after its acquisition by WPP Group Plc in 1991. According to her memo dated May 19th, Beers' objective was to "re-invent" the mega-agency, whose inertia and complacency had eroded its competitiveness since the 1980s. In fact, Beer's tenure at Ogilvy constituted a re-creation of the agency, redefining its aims, processes, people, and structure in reaction to the demands placed by the changing advertising industry. ANALYSIS

The main issue that confronted Beers was initiating and instituting organizational change at the core level. She assumed the leadership of Ogilvy at a time when the organization was internally bleeding. Charismatic founder David Ogilvy's resignation as CEO in 1975 had created a leadership vacuum which none of the succeeding leaders had been able to fill. In addition, the economic boom of the 80s had created a false sense of security that rendered the firm stagnant, unable to either anticipate or react to the changes taking place in the advertising industry. Most significantly, the absence of a strong leader caused the organization to devolve from "One Agency Indivisible" into individually ruled "fiefdoms." The firm's deficiencies came to the fore in 1989-91 when it lost more than $100M of advertising accounts from major firms that had grown tired of the highly politicized organizational environment at Ogilvy. NEED FOR CHANGE

Since Ogilvy's vision at the time was constrained to "just keep doing the same thing, better," the firm's re-creation was necessitated by external factors & events. For example, the central office had been unwilling to rein in its autonomous local offices' spending after the 1987 stock market crash even as it spent significantly towards centralization, resulting in high costs that precluded the firm from competing in a low-cost industry. Furthermore, Ogilvy's chronic failure to institute systems for managing collaboration across regions...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...Ogilvy & Mather first rose to prominence in 1950 with its eye-patched "Hathaway Man," an advertising tool for dress shirts that ran for the next 25 years. Ogilvy's other initial ads were for Rolls-Royce and Schweppes. Founder David Ogilvy believed that effective advertising created an indelible image of the product in consumers' minds and that campaigns should always be intelligent, stylish and "first class". David Ogilvy became an industry legend -- his book, Ogilvy on Advertising, became an advertising textbook -- and under his leadership the agency became one of the stars of the advertising world. Ogilvy eventually merged with its former parent company, the British group Mather & Crowther. Over time, Ogilvy came to pride itself as "the most local of the internationals, the most international of the locals". The Ogilvy offices represented four core disciplines: sales promotion, public relations, advertising and direct marketing.
In 1988, Ogilvy was ranked the sixth-largest advertising firm in the world. Because of the stock market crash in 1987, O&M suffered a huge blow in the advertising market because it was too slow to make adjustments. In 1989, WPP Group Plc, a leading marketing services company, acquired Ogilvy and Mather for $864 million. By 1991, Ogilvy had 270 offices in four...

...Executive Summary
CharlotteBeers has a vision; however, she cannot convey this message personally to the whole Ogilvy & Mather organization (O&M). Appointed CEO after a hostile takeover, Beers was faced with the challenge of uniting a multinational, autonomous corporation under her concept of Brand Stewardship. David Ogilvy founded the company, that later merged with Mather & Crowther, which became one of the leading advertising agencies. O&M had offices worldwide, focusing on local as well as global advertising campaigns that used the influence of a multinational corporation with the appeal of local intricacies. The culture of O&M was such a large part of the company that any change was deemed as a personal attack on the employees. To overcome this obstacle, Beers assembled a team of change thirsty individuals that would create a model and process for the dissatisfied to recapture the once held high esteem of the advertising world. Beers ultimately is trying to create the emotionally charged environment necessary for organizational change.Case Analysis
CharlotteBeers entered O&M at a time when it was most vulnerable. She was placed into an advertising company that had accolades for memorable campaigns but had become stagnant due to inappropriate leadership. David Ogilvy was an eccentric leader and...

...
Case Study on CharlotteBeers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide Evaluation on the change implementation by CharlotteBeers
Being successful in change implementation, the change strategist should understanding
the need to change, able to develop a direction that lead the crowd to move forward,
obtain support from implementers and recipients and set up plans and structure that
facilitate change and encourage continuously improvement.
!
Able to understanding the need to changes
CharlotteBeer as the change strategist successful understood the challenges facing by
O&M externally and internally. Advertising industry was going globalized and
customers demand “better service at lower cost”. Strong competitions in the market
threatened O&M business by taking away their important clients. Internally, O&M was
unable adapt to the changing demand. Operating cost and agency fee was high while
quality of work diminished and cooperation was limited among staffs. Therefore,
CharlotteBeer adopted “Re-creation”, change the Company values and strategy to
tackle threats.
!
Successfully set up a common vision and encourage moving forward
Beers worked out a vision with a group of change leaders and set up a clear direction
focusing on brand stewardship. The vision “To be the agency most valued by those who
most value...

...CharlotteBeers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A)
Document purpose: suggestions to increase acceptance of Ogilvy & Mather’s new Vison on employees below senior executive management.
Problem definition
December 1993: CharlotteBeers assesses the progresses made by the company after she became CEO: she realizes that clients love the Brand Stewardship concept, but most employees, below executive levels, have not embraced the newly created Vison. The problem I will focus in this document is the following: the majority of employees did not embrace the new Vison. I will analyze why this is a key problem, why it is happening and I will propose steps to accomplish more acceptance.
Analysis
Brief Background
Major events have shaped the history of the company in the recent years: first the hostile takeover, 1989, then the loss of key accounts and credibility in the business. Many key senior employees have left in the 2 years following the takeover. The company Vison has been: “just keep doing the same thing, just better”, but the world around has been changing. The marketing business has clearly become more global in nature, with "mergers to form mega-agencies and the concept of transporting brands around the world", and customers are demanding for “more service at lower costs”.
Re-creation
Technically the type of organizational change Beers has to face as...

...CharlotteBeers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A)
1. What is Beers trying to accomplish as CEO of Ogilvy and Mather World Wide?
The people at Ogilvy & Mather didn’t take Charlottes appointment to the agency with enthusiasm. She wasn’t from O&M and they didn’t like outsiders. But Beers had a charm and passion that made an impression with the firm and its insiders.
Her first order of business was to remove the word “beleaguered” from press reports. She felt that people had lost sight of Ogilvy’s impressive assets. She also felt that people had no clear sense of what it stood for. She would change all of that with new plans to adjust O&Ms structure and systems. With the philosophy of “Brand Stewardship”, she would give the people something that would release their passion for the industry again.
She wanted O&M to show intelligence, style, and first class to all clients. Beers wanted O&M to be a bridge between consumers and the products.
2. What is your assessment of the vision?
“Thirsty for Change”
Beers did the right thing by putting together a small team who wanted this change as much as she did. Having the right people on your side is very important in order to lead others into such a big adjustment. The crafting of the new vision wasn’t easy. Although some felt that...

...CharlotteBeers at
Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A)
By
XXXX
XXXX
CharlotteBeers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A)
Document purpose: suggestions to increase acceptance of Ogilvy & Mather’s new Vison on employees below senior executive management.
Problem definition
December 1993: CharlotteBeers assesses the progresses made by the company after she became CEO: she realizes that clients love the Brand Stewardship concept, but most employees, below executive levels, have not embraced the newly created Vision. The problem I will focus in this document is the following: the majority of employees did not embrace the new Vision. I will analyze why this is a key problem, why it is happening and I will propose steps to accomplish more acceptance.
Analysis
Brief Background
Major events have shaped the history of the company in the recent years: first the hostile takeover, 1989, then the loss of key accounts and credibility in the business. Many key senior employees have left in the 2 years following the takeover. The company Vision has been: “just keep doing the same thing, just better”, but the world around has been changing. The marketing business has clearly become more global in nature, with "mergers to form mega-agencies and the concept of transporting brands around the...

...Harvard Business School
9-495-031
Rev. October 12, 1999
CharlotteBeers at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide (A)
It was December 1993, and during the past year and a half, CharlotteBeers had found little time for reflection. Since taking over as CEO and chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in 1992, Beers had focused all her efforts on charting a new course for the world’s sixth-largest advertising agency. The process of crafting a vision with her senior management team had been—by all accounts—painful, messy, and chaotic. Beers, however, was pleased with the results. Ogilvy & Mather was now committed to becoming “the agency most valued by those who most value brands.” During the past year, the agency had regained, expanded, or won several major accounts. Confidence and energy appeared to be returning to a company the press had labeled “beleaguered” only two years earlier. Yet, Beers sensed that the change effort was still fragile. “Brand Stewardship,” the agency’s philosophy for building brands, was not well understood below the top tier of executives who had worked with Beers to develop the concept. Internal communication efforts to 272 worldwide offices were under way, as were plans to adjust O&M’s structures and systems to a new set of priorities. Not the least of the...

...CharlotteBeers at Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide (A)
1. What is Beers trying to accomplish as CEO of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide?
- She wanted to activate assets that they already had (Vast network of offices worldwide, its creative talent, and its distinguished list of multinational clients.)
- Manage the complexity of the emotional as well as the logical relationship between consumer and a product (Client and Brand Focused)
- Creation of Brand Stewardship (Brand Audits)
- Creation of an overarching vision and mission statement that will move the company (To be the agency most valued by those who most value brands)
2. What is your evaluation/assessment of the process Beers and her team went through to create the Vision and Values Statement?
- Created “Stretch” Goals to weed out the employees that work themselves into new configurations
- Picked a multi-discipline group that had the same desire to move forward
- Depersonalize conflicts
- Create passionate arguments
- Created a group that she felt that she belonged to
- Only the group members became true believers, had the arduous task of converting everyone else. And only Beers, had the drive / and vision to do it.
3. What type of leader is Beers? Explain whether these qualities are appropriate for the type of organizational change she is seeking to accomplish, given the...